Matching: Putting the Right Person in the Right Function
Matching a candidate to the position best suited for their personality, values, and work style has never been easier.
Think of an open position in your company right now.
You know what the job entails, who the person in that position will work with, what the culture of your company is like. You already know precisely what kind of person needs to fill that position. This short questionnaire makes that information visible to you and puts it in a format a computer can understand.
The following descriptions are taken from the Functional Profile questionnaire that some of our clients use to help managers identify just what traits are important for a particular job function.
For each trait, the manager is shown two opposing statements with a row of buttons (or a slider) between them. The manager is asked to selected the button that best describes what the function requires. A manager with no psychological experience can fill in this questionnaire in just a few minutes (our studies that 22 scales can be answer in just 5 minutes) and the results can easily be compared with the results of a candidate to find the best match.
| Trait | A very low score(a score of 1 or 2) | A very high score(a score of 8 or 9) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer | Person is careful and avoids risks. Person is able to focus on a single task for a long time. Work methods do not often change. Tasks are clearly defined and rules are laid out for all situations. Stable environment, work processes do not change. |
ooooooooo |
Person likes to take risks. Person needs to generate a lot of new ideas and think outside the box. Tasks are not clearly defined and there are few rules. Workplace and rules are chaotic and constantly changing. |
| Networker | Experiences difficulty meeting new people unless it deals with work issues. Does not freely share emotions. Peaceful work environment. Work focuses on maintaining preexisting relationships (e.g., long term customers, suppliers, and within organization) |
ooooooooo |
Very strong need to communicate and interact with others. Prefers a busy work environment. Builds enthusiasm in others, inspirational. Position requires making contact with new people every day. Position requires communicating with groups and making presentations. |
| Achiever | Focused more on the process and the people instead of the goal. Avoids competition, prefers agreement and cooperation. Does not push others. Does not require high level of persistence to overcome obstacles. Low stress work. |
ooooooooo |
Strongly focused on goals and results. Very competitive, always wants to be on top. Can push others when necessary. Requires a high level of persistence to overcome obstacles. Environment and tasks generate a lot of stress. |
After asking a manager these questions, it is simplicity itself to show, on the same page, what a candidate ‘looks like’ and how that compares to what a manager is looking for in their new employee.
A candidate's scores |
Manager's description of a function mapped to the Octogram |
These matches can also be quantified as percentages when dealing with large numbers of candidates. If you have 2 or 1000 candidates for a position, it is easy to order those candidates by their degree of ‘match’ with the job. Our research has shown that a matching process using only the Octogram delivers a significant increase in productivity, job satisfaction, and engagement. When other OTM tests are added to the mix, these improvements continue to rise. For the best balance between value and cost, we recommend that customers match on the Octogram Work Styles test, the Career Values test, and the Organizational Culture test.
If you are interested in adding Online Talent Manager for matching in your own product contact us for more information on our OTMAPI.
